Hydraulic rail-spreader.



G. MILLS 6: J. J. GAHILL.

HYDRAULIC RAIL SPREADER.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 31, 1914.

1,101,809, Patented June 30, 191 i 1 I ll WITNESSES: Gear 8 ZS egg/an cl Ca/ufi Z Z ATTORNEY LLLLLLLLLLL NDGRAPH co WASHINGTON. D. c.

on rrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE A enonen iritts Ann Jenn J. CAHILL, or sicaammo, anaemi ,assien'ons or ronrr ONE-HUNDREDTHS T0 HARRY SALANI, or SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

HYDRAULIC imlnsrnnnnnn.

Specification of Letters eaten-t. P tented J1me 3t), 1914-,

Application fii'ea March 31, 1914. Serial no. 828,454.

To. all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GEORGE JOHN J. OAHILL, both citizens of the United States, and residing at Sacramento, in the county of Sacramento and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hydraulic Rail- Spreaders; and we do declare the following to be a clear, full, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appert-ains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements for spreading the adjacent ends of the rails of a railway for the purpose of inserting fiber or other similar insulation for any desired purposes, especially in equipping the same with electrical contacting mechanism or signal structure, the aim of the invention being to produce a means for easily and effectively spreading the adjacent ends of said rails apart a slight distance and holding them in that position until the material is inserted therebetween, all of which can be readily done without disturbing the track equipment.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposes for which it is designed.

These objects, we accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of the parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

On the drawings, similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of two rails showing their ends adjacent one another and with our improved hydraulic spreader in position thereon. Fig. 2 is an end view of one of the rails partly broken out showing the manner of positioning our improved device against the side of the rails.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a hydraulic jack, the internal mechanism of which is of any well known type, the external shell being especialy formed for the purpose of our improved invention. Since such internal MILLs and i frame is. ofthe ordinary type, no especial description of the same will be here entered lnto.

The numeral 2 designates the operating lever for the internal mechanism of the ack 1.

For the purpose of our improved mechanism, the outside shell or casing of the jack 1 is provided with a side face 3 especially shaped to fit between the ball and the flange of the rail 4 and is provided with a slot 5 to receive the flange 6 of the rail whereby the jack may be firmly held in operative position adjacent the rail. On the side of the face 3 are two projecting lugs 7 adapted to fit in corresponding holes 8 in the web of the rail.

The numeral 9 designates the piston rod of the jack 1 and in place of the ordinary head. of the jack we provide another meniber 10 faced the same as the face of the jack to fit against the rail in the manner shown and such member 10-is also provided with lugs 11 similar to the lugs 7 and adapted to fit into corresponding orifices in the adjacent rail.

\Vith the operation of the lever 2 of the jack throwing the internal mechanism of the jack into operation, this causes the piston rod 9 to be moved in the usual manner which tends to move the parts 1 and 10 apart and since the lugs '7 and 11 are engaging the web of the rail this will spread the adjacent ends of the rail apart a sufii cient degree to permit of the insulating ma terial to be inserted therebetween. When this is done, the action of the lever 2 will be reversed to release the strain between the parts and the device will thenbe removed from the rails.

From the foregoing description it will readily be seen that we have produced such a device as substantially fulfils the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice, such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A device of the character described comprising a hydraulic jack having a pair the other of said members being secured to of progecting lugs on its face and a head on said piston rod, as described.

said jack having a pair of spaced lugs on In testimony whereof We afiix our signalts face, as descrlbed. tures in presence of two wltnesses.

a A dev ce or he chuactei described GEORGE MILLS.

comprlslng the comblnatlon with a pair of JOHN J OAHILL alined rails provided with orifices, of two spaced members having lugs adapted to fit Witnesses:

into said orifices, one of said members being JOSHUA B. WEBSTER, 10 a hydraulic jack provided with a piston rod, MABEL G. BOARD.

Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatents Washington, D. G. 

